1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the simulation of events, and more particularly, to the simulation and synthesis of sporting matches.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional sport simulation games are electronic games that simulate, on a computer display or television screen, a sporting event. For example, a baseball game may allow users to select the type of pitches thrown, to control timing of the pitches thrown, to control the swing of the bat, and to control the movement of various fielders. Users enter the control information using input devices such as joysticks and keyboards.
Early sport simulation games simulated only the rules of the games. Individual players were depicted as generic computer generated models. More recent sport simulation games allow the users to pick known sporting teams, such as teams from a familiar professional league, and to even control individual computer players that are modeled based on real athletes in the professional league. For example, a star running back in a football game simulation may move faster than other running backs.
Although the performance and realism of sport simulation games has improved dramatically in recent years, conventional simulations are still based on static rules and player characteristics that are pre-entered during the games initial design. Thus, there is a need in the art for a more realistic sports gaming simulation that is able to simulate plays based on portions of a real match.